Radio communication device

Abstract

A radio terminal ( 100 ) according to a present invention stores a handover threshold in association with an application being executed, when the communication quality of the application is degraded, the handover threshold being based on a piece of radio state information equivalent to that at a time when the communication quality is determined to be degraded. The radio terminal ( 100 ) stores the amount of variation of the radio state information in association with the radio communication system. The radio terminal ( 100 ) executes handover to a different radio communication system on the basis of the radio state information, the stored handover threshold and the stored amount of the variation.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A radio communication device which is configured to be connectable to multiple radio communication systems of different communication schemes and which is configured to perform communications with a communication destination device through a radio base station by use of a predetermined application, the radio communication device comprising:
 a radio state information acquirer configured to acquire radio state information indicating a state of a radio signal transmitted to and received from the radio base station; 
 a quality checker configured to check whether or not the communication quality of the application is degraded; 
 a threshold storage processor configured to store therein a handover threshold in association with the application when the quality checker determines that the communication quality is degraded, the handover threshold being determined in advance based on at least a portion of previously acquired radio state information acquired at a time when the communication quality is determined to be degraded; 
 a handover executor configured to execute a handover from a current radio communication system to a different radio communication system having a different communication scheme than that of the current radio communication system; and 
 a variation storage processor configured to store in advance therein an amount of variation of the radio state information in association with a handover from the current radio communication system to the different radio communication system, wherein the amount of variation is calculated to be an average mean of two or more previously measured variations of the radio state information associated with a handover from the current radio communication system to the different radio communication system, and 
 the handover executor executes the handover to the different radio communication system when the radio state information subsequently acquired by the radio state information acquirer reaches the handover threshold stored in the threshold storage processor minus the amount of variation stored in the variation storage processor. 
 
     
     
       2. The radio communication device according to  claim 1 , wherein the handover executor determines a value of the subsequently acquired radio state information at which the handover executor is to start the handover, on the basis of the handover threshold and the amount of variation. 
     
     
       3. The radio communication device according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a required time storage processor configured to store a time in association with the radio communication system, the time required for the handover executor to execute the handover to the different radio communication system, wherein 
 the handover executor executes the handover to the different radio communication system on the basis of the subsequently acquired radio state information, the handover threshold, the amount of variation, and the required time. 
 
     
     
       4. The radio communication device according to  claim 3 , wherein the handover executor executes the handover to a radio communication system whose required time is shorter than a required time of at least one other radio communication system. 
     
     
       5. The radio communication device according to  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a required time storage processor configured to store time in association with the radio communication system, the time required for the handover executor to execute the handover to the different radio communication system, wherein 
 the handover executor executes the handover to the different radio communication system on the basis of the subsequently acquired radio state information, the handover threshold, the amount of variation, and the required time. 
 
     
     
       6. A radio communication device which is configured to be connectable to multiple radio communication systems of different communication schemes and which is configured to perform communications with a communication destination device through a radio base station by use of a predetermined application, the radio communication device comprising:
 a radio state information acquirer configured to acquire radio state information indicating a state of a radio signal transmitted to and received from the radio base station; 
 a quality checker configured to check whether or not the communication quality of each of a plurality of applications application is degraded; 
 a threshold storage processor configured to store therein a handover threshold in association with at least one application, respectively, when the quality checker determines that the communication quality of the at least one application is degraded, the handover threshold being determined in advance based on at least a portion of previously acquired radio state information acquired at a time when the communication quality is determined to be degraded; 
 a handover executor configured to execute a handover from a current radio communication system to a different radio communication system having a different communication scheme than that of the current radio communication system; and 
 a variation storage processor configured to store in advance therein an amount of variation of the radio state information in association with a handover from the current radio communication system to the different radio communication system, wherein the amount of variation is calculated to be an average mean of two or more previously measured variations of the radio state information associated with a handover from the current radio communication system to the different radio communication system, and 
 the handover executor executes the handover to the different radio communication system when the radio state information subsequently acquired by the radio state information acquirer reaches the handover threshold stored in the threshold storage processor minus the amount of variation stored in the variation storage processor.